A comparative study of Zinc (II) ions removal by a locally produced Granular activated carbon

Physiochemical properties of wastewater effluent from the plants of a brewery in Lagos, Nigeria were analyzed. The adsorption capacity of Granular activated carbon from animal horns when compared with the available commercial Granulated Activated Carbon (GAC) has been presented. Kinetics of adsorption was also investigated. The adsorption isotherms could be well defined with Freundlich model instead of Langmuir model for both GAC studied. The experimental data, when applied to the first and second-order kinetic models, followed the first-order with r² = 0.931 for GAC from animal horns while commercial GAC followed the second-order with r² = 0.936. The results illustrated how animal horns, a solid waste disposal menace from the abattoir at the Oshodi market in Lagos metropolis, was used as an effective biosorbent for the removal of Zn 2+ ions; offering a cheap option for primary treatment of the wastewater effluent